She shook hands with me quite seriously when I went away as though with an equal. The next moment she called me back, and kissed me, holding me close to her silk breast.
"You have talent, dear child," she said. "I will develop it. I will watch over you. Some day there will be books!"
I went home very bewildered, but very happy. I looked at the worn places on the stair carpet almost tenderly. I laid my cheek against my mother's old winter coat hanging up in the hall. Suppose the fortune which Norah had read in the teacup should come true! Suppose that I should be the one to buy the new things, to make soft the narrow life, to reimburse the dear ones who gave and gave and never thought of the sacrifice. Just suppose! It was as if a great white door had opened before me.
Transcriber's Note:
Obvious punctuation errors were corrected. Varied hyphenation was retained.
Repeated chapter titles were removed to avoid repetition.